REAL Pokeball Invented That Will Help You Catch Pokemon

What’s the one thing about Pokémon Go that could be improved? More reality in that augmented reality mode and better battery life, right? Now it’s here with a real-world Pokéball you can actually throw to catch Pokémon and charge your phone.

The 'Official Trainer Ball', as it’s called, has Bluetooth 4.0 and an accelerometer built-in meaning it’ll work like a controller for the connected smartphone. Throw this Pokéball in real life and the virtual one will follow in Pokémon Go to, hopefully, bag yourself a Pokémon. Incredible, right?

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The ONE downside? It’s still on Kickstarter which means you’ll have to wait a while.

The Pokéball also doubles as a charger for your phone. Yup, that insane battery drain of the Pokémon Go game no longer means sacrificing step counting for incubated Pokémon as you try to save charge. The Official Trainer Ball features a USB port and will have up to three battery cells, depending on Kickstarter funding, that should charge your phone fully two to three times.

For those worried about losing the Pokéball by throwing it into a bush or road, you don’t have to let go. A fake throw where you don’t let go will also work in the game. But should you let go, there’s little worry as this thing is built to be tough and grippy thanks to texturised, rubberised materials. All that and it even has a working light so you can see when you’ve caught a Pokémon. Amazing.

The Official Trainer Ball will be available from February 2017 for $55 on Kickstarter. At the time of publishing there were still early bird deals for $35.

11 Pokémon Facts That Could Change EVERYTHING

"Pokémon’’ is not a Japanese word, but it’s a combination of the two English words ‘’Pocket’’ and ‘’ Monster’’ - a bit like how Tamagotchi means egg and watch. The Japanese love a good portmanteau don’t they?

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Which leads us nicely onto Pikachu, whose name is a combination of the Japanese onomatopoeia for sparkle, pikapika, and the sound of squeaking, which is expressed as chūchū.

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While we’re on the subject of that little scamp - ‘Pikachu’ literally means ‘crackling squeak’. Whodathunkit.

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Hitmonchan and Hitmonlee are based on Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee respectively. Unfortunately, HitmonNorris, HitmonSeagal and HitmonVanDamme were never introduced to the games.

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Uber is now doing rides for Pokémon Go. While it’s a neat idea for the company to capitalise on the game’s popularity – if you take up the offer then we hope Hitmonchan hits you with a big stick.

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The master ball has a 1 out of 65536 chance of failing. But don’t let those odds lure you into a false sense of security. If Donald Trump can become the Republican nominee – anything can happen.

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Pokémon was inspired by bug collecting, from young the Pokémon creator Satoshi Tajiri would collect bugs and trade them with his friends.

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Thanks to Pokémon GO a lot of the Americans who’ve been playing the game, has only just learnt how to use the metric system. Next up: Americans learn what autumn is.

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The illustrator Pikachu is the Holy Grail for every Pokémon trading card game collection. In 2013, the card went up for sale for a WHOPPING $100,000 on eBay.

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This year marks Pokémon’s 20th anniversary. Starting in 1996, when Pokémon Red and Blue launched in Japan, the world has purchased over 279 million (!) copies of Pokémon games and its spin-offs.

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Pokémon holds a Guinness world record for most photosensitive epileptic seizures caused by a TV show. The 38TH episode in series one is responsible for this.